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Piracy Setup Discovered in WV Capitol Building
arakis writes "Someone in West Virginia has apparently spent tens of thousands in state funds to acquire computers and video gear to copy movies and music. From the article: 'Ferguson confirmed Tuesday that his staff found the makeshift audio-video studio amid his widening probe into spending and other abuses at the state General Services Division.' Looks like some employees are getting the axe for everything from purchasing abuse to time fraud."
Anyone know what the "crack the headers" bit refers to for CDs?
It means "I'm a journalist and really have no clue what I'm talking about, so I'll make up words that sound dramatic".
"In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
get your mottos straight:
West Virginia: Montani semper liberi - Mountaineers are always free
Virginia: Sic semper tyrannis - Thus always to tyrants (meaning death from the slain king in the state seal)
From TFA: "Not all the purchased computers and gear can be located, Ferguson said."
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
The real issue here is not that someone had 14GB of mp3s or 40 movies; that simply makes for a better headline. The real issue is that someone in the capital was abusing the purchasing system and bilking the state for all they could. Buying barebones PCs on one purchase and then purchasing the remaining components on a separate order is a big no-no. It means that the PCs appear to be far less expensive, and exempts them from inventory control systems. The purchases basically fly under the radar, and the goods could be anywhere now; some other office, somebody's house, or sold on eBay.
Anyone know what the "crack the headers" bit refers to for CDs?
It means "I'm a journalist and really have no clue what I'm talking about, so I'll make up words that sound dramatic".
Actually, the author of the article never refers to "cracking" the headers of CDs. The article states "software 'commonly used to crack header codes on copyrighted materials such as movies and music to allow duplication,' Schafer's memo said.". Regular redbook audio CDs don't have any sort of DRM to crack, but many DVDs do, and so do DRM'd music tracks downloaded from services such as iTunes or Napster. So, while it may certainly be true that many journalists don't know what they're talking about, this journalist has said nothing incorrect with respect to cracking.
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
I am a government employee. (work at a small college). Had a broken Digital Projector. Called them up, described the problem, was told that $PART was broken, and it would be $2400 to fix. I kind of went silent for a few minutes, and pointed out that their new projectors of the same Lumens cost $1500. Do customers really do this? His response was that sometimes, especially with government accounts, there is no budget for new equipment, but money in the repair budget. I remember saying, "So instead of spending $1500 on a new projector with a warranty, they spend $2400 on repairing a 3 year old projector? Don't you feel good about where your tax dollars are going?" I have seen this far too many times in government. Rules are so strict and rigid (often because of abuses) that it is easier to spend twice as much money than to get approval to move the amount from one budget account to another..
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
{
last time i checked my 3 towers and 9 hard disks didn't cost tens of thousands (and two of them are macs!)
}
You didn't buy them from state-approved vendors who are on the official bidding lists.
State bidding lists work like this: when the contract is about to end, the state invites vendors to bid (more actually they obfuscate the process to make it more difficult to newcomers to get in on the process, so the system is weighted toward favored vendors), in a superficial effort to meet state law in controlling budgets.
In reality, the bidding process is made as difficult as humanly possible. The regulatiosn are hard to find, each responsible person tells you to call someone else, and the folks who succeed in getting in on it invariably are the ones who wine and dine the officials.
ANYWAY the bidding process usually gives you two optios:
- bid cost + percentage (which practically no one does because it would reveal the markup)
- bid MSRP/List Price minus a percentage (and as you know on most products list price may be as low as 30% over cost, or as much as 300% to 400% over cost on average for different products and brands)
Once you win the contract, you now have the "right" to sell directly to state and municipal agencies, completely bypassing any further bidding processes. This is intended to reduce the budget by being able to plan cost of operations up front, and to eliminate paperwork and delays introduced by conventional bidding processes. Unfortunately it's all to common for vendors to get in on the list bidding a PITTANCE of a discount (example: Dell, 2% off of list price, which is an inflated work of fiction) knowing that the process to get IN on the bidding is painful at best.
Even worse, the lowest bid does NOT always win on the bid lists (this goes for both state and GSA lists) and in fact the officials/agencies overseeing the bidding process can choose to ignore the bids and pick whomever the heck they want to win. They can cite support reasons (Yeah. Dell support is just WONDERFUL compared to local Dell vendors), size of the company, or any other contrived reason that sounds remotely plausible.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Being landlocked, I doubt W.VA has a pirate problem to speak of.0 31203a.htm)e .htm?site=http://www.iccwbo.org/home/news_archives /2002/stories/piracy%2520report%2520Oct2002.asp)e .htm?site=http://www.iccwbo.org/ccs/imb_piracy/wee kly_piracy_report.asp)
Now, here is some info on REAL pirates and piracy:
"Modern Pirates Thrive on Global Trade" (http://globalization.about.com/library/weekly/aa
"Pirate attacks against ships increase, ICC report finds" (http://globalization.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsit
and last but not least:
"Weekly Piracy Report" (http://globalization.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsit
Now, enough FUD about piracy!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
I do. Charleston. I happen to live there, you insensitive clod! :-P
And my old man happens to work at the Capitol building as well. And yeah, from what I hear, everyone involved was definitely axed.
-Ares
The state has sovereign immunity.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Additionally, the reporter was quoting a memo written by a third party verbatim. In that context, the statement seems perfectly reasonable to me.